You don’t have to understand Medicare to help clients with what can be a huge expense in retirement — prescription drug costs.
Ask them: Do you understand how to read your drug formulary?
Hand them this Medicare BackOffice® infographic on how to read their Part D plan’s drug formulary and tell them to call the helpful Licensed Insurance Agents at Medicare BackOffice for any questions.
How can the infographic help save your clients money?
Understanding how the drug formulary is organized and just a few abbreviations helps them understand how drugs are priced and can also prevent frustrating delays in getting the drugs they need. A formulary is a list of drugs covered by an insurance plan and how they’re covered — specifically, how much your client pays, how much their plan pays and any prerequisites or restrictions on getting a prescription paid.
Stress to your client that knowing these things upfront can save them money. For example, they might look up a newly prescribed drug in the formulary and discover that a generic is available for a significant cost savings or that the plan requires that a less-expensive medication must be tried first.
Remind clients to review their Part D plans soon
While understanding their drug formulary is one important thing they can do to manage their health care costs on an ongoing basis, perhaps even more important is reviewing their formulary each year during Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period, which is Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. Drug formularies and plans can change, often leading to costly surprises, if clients don’t review their plans. Open enrollment is when people enrolled in Medicare can enroll in or change their prescription drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan.
Now is a perfect time to remind your clients about the importance of calling Medicare BackOffice to review their prescription drug plan. While next year’s formularies and prices are not available yet, encourage your clients to call now, and the Licensed Insurance Agents at Medicare BackOffice can still answer any formulary questions now, help them gather what they’ll need for an annual review this fall and make note to call them as soon as next year’s plan information is available.
Your client will appreciate your advice — and especially any savings that could result.
You can find the infographic under the “Resources” tab on our website. Print it out and tell them to direct any questions to the Medicare BackOffice number on the infographic. Remind them to provide your name when they call.
